I certainly covet your prayers
as I attempt to bring this message on the family trait. Look up in verse 20 of Mark chapter
3. And the multitude cometh together
again, so they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of
it, And my marginal reading says his kinsmen, his brothers and
his sisters, his near family. When they heard of it, they went out to lay hold on
him for they said he's beside himself. His brothers and sisters,
he had them. Look in Mark chapter 6. Verses two and three. And when
the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many hearing him were astonished, saying, from whence hath this
man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him,
that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not
this the carpenter? I can feel the contempt they
say it with. The son of Mary, the brother
of James and Joseph, And of Judah and Simon, he mentions four of
his brothers. And are not his sisters here
with us? And they were offended at him.
So we see that he had a large family. I think it's interesting
that if that's the right word, that the Roman Catholic Church
says that Mary remained a sinless virgin after that she had the
Lord. and that she never sinned, and
the scriptures contradict that. They contradict it. They speak
of his brothers and sisters. Now Mary was a virgin when the
Holy Spirit conceived the Christ in her womb, and I can't help
but think about what Joseph must have thought when she told him,
I'm with child from the Holy Ghost. you can be sure that he
was very incredulous toward that, and he thought to put her away,
but she was a virgin. You see, the one that she conceived
didn't have Adam's sinful nature. Aren't you thankful for that?
Holy. But she was a sinner like you
and I, and she had other children after the Christ, and I think
it's interesting, though, when his brothers and sisters saw
the multitudes, they tried to get him away from this. They
sought to lay hold of him and say, he's beside himself, he's
gone crazy. What really hits me about that
is these people grew up with holiness in their house and they
didn't see it. They didn't recognize it. Do
you know the natural man is incapable of recognizing a holy life? They couldn't see it. They thought
he had gone crazy. Now look in verse 31 of the same
chapter, Mark chapter three. There came then his brethren
and his mother standing without sent unto him calling him. Now
I believe that this was on the very same day. If you look at
Matthew's account, this appears to have been the same day, and
now his mother is included. I really don't think she was
there at this initial reading we had when his brethren came,
because she knew who he was. She knew who he was. But now
here she is with them. There came then his brethren
and his mother, and standing without, this crowded room where
he was preaching, they sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude
said about him, and they said unto him, behold, thy mother
and thy brethren without seek for thee. Now there wasn't anybody
who loved their mother like the Lord loved his mother. I have
no doubt he's the infinitely the greatest son. You think of
the way he took care of her, even on the cross. Oh, how the
Lord loved his mother. He subjected himself to her. But look what he says. And he
answered them saying, who is my mother or my brother? And he looked round about on
them which said about him, these people who were listening to
him preach. And he said, behold, my mother and my brother. These people are my true family. This is the true holy family. You know, where I was growing
up in Ashland, Kentucky, the Catholic school was called Holy
Family. I never really gave it that much
thought, but here's the true Holy Family. My mother and my
brethren. And then he gives the family
trait. And as much as we are thankful
for these earthly families, you know they will not exist in heaven.
There's only one family. The family of God, they're not
husbands and wives and so on, just one family, the family of
God. And here is the family trait. For whosoever shall do the will
of God. The same is my brother and my
sister and my mother. The family trait is doing the
will of God. Now, I hope by the end of this
message, we'll understand what it means to do the will of God. There's a lot of different things
that might come up into our mind, but what is it to do the will
of God? God is a person. Yes. He's eternal. He never had a beginning. He'll
never have an end. He's infinite. He's not bound by space or time
the way we are. We can't be two places at once,
and we can't see what's going to happen tomorrow. He does.
He's independent. He has no needs. Isn't that glorious
to think about? He's omnipotent. He has the power
to do whatever he's pleased to do. He's omniscient. He's never
learned anything. He knows everything. He's sovereign. His will is always
done. He's immutable. He can't change.
I mean, you change from second to second, not him. He's always
the same. He's absolutely just. There's
no injustice in him. He's long-suffering. He's merciful. He's gracious. He's good. I love that scripture. God is
love. Don't you love that? God is love. Not here's love and God fits
that description. God is love. God is a person, and all persons
have a will. All persons. Have a will. A will is what you want. A will
is what you desire. Now, I want a trouble-free life. Do you? I'd love to have no trials. I'd love for everything to be
easy for me. I'd like for everybody to like me. I'd like everything
to go my way. That is my will. That's what
I want. There's only one problem with what I want. I don't have
the power to make it come to pass. I can want it, and I do
want it. I've got a will, but I can't
make it come to pass. Now, the difference between God's
will and everybody else's will is he has the power to make it
come to pass. Whatever he wills, that's what
he does. It's called the sovereignty of
God. He has a will, he has the ability
or the power to make his will come to pass and he always does
make his will come to pass. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that
did he, he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? He worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. And everything that takes
place is his will being done. I love the scripture, Proverbs
19, 21. There are many devices in a man's heart. Many plans,
many schemes, many intentions. I want to do this, I want to
do that. There are many devices in a man's
heart, nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. That's a good verse to commit
to memory. There are many devices, many
plans, many purposes, in the heart of man, nevertheless, the
counsel of the Lord that shall stand. And that lets us know
that God is completely sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions
of men. And do I have to go past the
cross to prove that? Men did what they wanted to do. I love that scripture in Acts
chapter four, verses 27, 28, both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. Everything they did to the Lord
in wickedness, it was God's will being done. Everything and everything
is God's will being done. I love what Joseph said, you
meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Now his will of decree, listen
to this carefully. I hope this makes sense. His
will of decree is always done, always. His will of command is
never done. And that is used by God for the
accomplishments of His purpose. Thus, God's will is always done,
even when His will of command is broken and disregarded. And
there's no excuse for that. No excuse for that. God's will
of command is in the Ten Commandments. That's His will of command. Even
though his will of command is always broken, he uses every
one of the breakings of his will for his own sovereign purpose
and glory. That's how glorious this God
is. Oh, the will of God. Now, there's some people who
do his will willingly. There are some people who do
his will unwillingly. but they all do his will. Amen. This is who God is. This is all
a part of all things working together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
But when the Lord points out this family trait, doing the
will of God, it's doing the will of God willingly. And the devil does the will of
God. Everything he does is directed by God. I love thinking this. I don't want to have anything
to say, want to have anything to do with him, but I love this.
He's God's devil doing God's will on God's chain. And everything
he does is used for the glory of God. But this family trait is people
who do his will willingly. If I'm not one of his people
that do this, I'm not in the family. The family trait is doing
his will. Now, Christ said in John chapter
four, verse 34, my meat and my drink is to do the will of him
that sent me and to finish his work. In his great high priestly
prayer, he said, I've glorified thee on earth. I've finished
the work that thou gavest me to do. When he was in Gethsemane's
garden, he's presented that cup. And when he saw that cup, the
scripture says he sweat great drops of blood. He knew what
was in that cup. in that cup was the sins of his
people, which he was going to take in his own body on the tree. And looking at that cup, I don't
understand this. Of course I don't understand
it. He does. And he said, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. I love to think of his cry from
the cross, it's finished. He began with the first thing
we have him saying publicly is I must be about my father's business.
And he said, it is finished. Mission accomplished. Now regarding
God's will, the Lord said this in John chapter six, verses 38
through 40. He said, I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing. Raise it up again. at the last
day, and this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone
that seeth the Son, you see, he is the Son, and believeth
on him should not perish, but I'll raise him up again at the
last day. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. This is a quotation from Psalm
40, verse 7. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it's written of me. Now he's not talking about
scriptures there. He's talking about the book of God's decrees.
He's talking about that book that only the line of the tribe
of Judah could open in Revelation chapter 5. No one else could
open it. This is talking about God's purposes and decrees. Then
said I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book, it's written of
me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, sacrifice
and offering and burn, offering and offering, for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
first covenant, that he may establish the second, By the witch will,
by God's will, that will he came to do, by the witch will, we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Now look at the supremacy of
his will in our salvation. By his will, we are sanctified. It's declared by God to be holy
once for all. That means it's something that
can't be repeated. It's already finished. It's a completed act
by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Now, he did his
father's will perfectly, didn't he? I love the scripture. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. When He said
it is finished, they were saved from their sins. He did His Father's
will. Now, the Lord speaks of those
people who comprise His true family as those who do the Father's
will. Every one of them, without exception,
If I'm one of his children, if I'm in this holy family that
he would call my mother and my brethren and my sisters, I'm
somebody who does his will. Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter seven for a moment? Verse 21, not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord. Now the repetition of the name,
Lord, like that, Lord, Lord, is there saying, Lord, Lord,
you know me. You know me. I'm the one who
did this. I'm the one who did that. I'm
the one who has the credentials. Lord, Lord, you know me. You
know me. Lord, Lord, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven. Many, verse 22, many. And these are the Lord's words.
And he's talking about judgment day. Look in verse 13 of Matthew
chapter seven, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is
the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And
many there be which go in there at, because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leads to life, and few there be that
find it." Now, those are the Lord's words. This is not a cult
leader's words. These are the Lord's words. And
he says on judgment day, verse 22, many will say to me in that
day, Lord, Lord, Have we not prophesied in thy
name? In thy name have cast out devils. What spiritual power you gave
us. And in thy name, we've done many wonderful works. The quantity, many. The quality,
wonderful. And they really believe this. And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. I never loved
you. I never saw you as one who believed
on me. I never saw you to trust me only
as your righteousness before God. I never knew you to glory
in the cross. I never knew you. Now he knew who they were. He
knew all about them. But he says, I never knew you. You're not one of those who was
foreknown, whom he did foreknow. You're not one of them. And look
what he says next. He says, depart from me, ye that
work Now they had plenty of religious works. And I mean, they preached
in his name. They demonstrated spiritual power. They cast out demons in his name,
and I'm not saying they didn't. And they had many wonderful works,
but they never did that one work. They never did the will of God. Turn with me to John chapter
six. beginning in verse 25. This is
after the Lord had fed 5,000, and then he left. And they went
looking for him, verse 25, and when they found him on the other
side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou
hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, not because of any conviction of my person,
but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Now, I love the way he says this
to these people who he knows are going to walk away from him.
At the end of this chapter, every one of these people walk away
from him, and he's only left with the 12. But look how he
speaks to them. We can learn something from this. He says
to these people, labor not for the meat which perisheth. But
for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which
the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father
sealed. If you labor for this meat, you'll
be given this meat." Now, that's what he says. He knew that they
would walk away, but if you labor for this meat, you'll be given
this meat. Verse 28, then said they unto
him, They heard him use that word labor, and they thought
about what they needed to do. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God that you believe on him. whom he hath sent. What comes after that? Period. Do you want to understand what
it is to do the will of God? To believe on him whom he hath
sent. Do you believe the father sent
him? Do you believe he was before
he was sent? The eternal son of God and the
father sent him. Do you believe he did what the
father sent him to do? Do you believe that when he said
it is finished, he had completed the work the father sent him
to do? Do you believe that he is the
sent Savior? Do you believe that he's the
sitting Savior? When he by himself purged our sins, he sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high. He's the sitting Savior. Nothing for him to do. He doesn't
need to walk back and forth and wring his hands and worry about
things. He's the sitting Savior. He is the successful Savior. Do you believe that? Do you believe
He's the successful Savior? Do you believe He's the sovereign
Savior? The one who controls everything? My dear friends, that's doing His will. Believing on Him whom He hath
sent. Now what if I put in an and? What have I done? I've denied
everything I've said. Turn to Acts chapter 16. This is the story of the Philippian
jailer after the Lord has opened up the prison with an earthquake
and he thought everybody was getting ready to escape and he
was getting ready to kill himself and Paul said, do thyself no
harm, we're all still here. And he sprang in. And what did
he say? Verse 29, and then he called
for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved? Now, he didn't say, sirs, what
must I do to save myself? Because he knew that was impossible. But he's asking a very important
question. What must I do to be saved? And Paul didn't answer and say,
you shouldn't be talking like that. That's like salvation by
works. You can't do anything to be saved. He didn't say that,
did he? He said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. He didn't say believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and turn from all your sins and get your life
straightened out. He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now, if there's ever a
time to find out exactly what I must
do, here it is. What must I do? Believe. Believe
on the Lord. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He's
the Lord of providence, and He's the Lord of salvation. He's Jesus,
the Savior. He's God's Christ, God's prophet,
God's priest, and God's King. And Paul didn't say anything
else, did he? He didn't say anything else.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. It's to believe on Him whom He
has sent. It's to believe on his name. Believing on the name. That's the person behind the
name. That's all of his attributes. I'm trusting his attributes.
I'm calling upon his attributes to save me. Save me by an act
of your sovereign will. Save me by your justice. Save
me by your grace. Save me by your power. Save me
by your wisdom. That's what it is to believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these people in Matthew
chapter seven, They had plenty of works, didn't they? But they
didn't have the one work. One thing is needful. Turn to John chapter seven. Verse 14. Now about the midst
of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the
Jews marveled, saying, how knoweth this man letters, having never
learned? He never went seminary anywhere. He didn't have any
education. What's he doing trying to teach us? Jesus answered them and said,
my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. You'd find
it an interesting study to look up every time where the Lord
talked about being sent. My doctrine is not mine, but
his that sent me. Now, if any man will do his will. There it is. If any man will
do his will. He shall know the doctrine, whether
it be of God or whether I speak of myself. You know, if you don't
know the doctrine, you know what it is? you're unwilling to do
his will. All error is caused by this,
an unwillingness to do his will. If any man will do his will,
he'll know the doctrine. Whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself, he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory. You know, if you hear a preacher
preaching and you leave thinking, well, I wish I could be more
like him. You know why? He's seeking his
own glory. That's it. But he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in
him. And you know how you can tell
whether something is of God? Very simple. Who gets the glory? Now, I've said this recently.
I'm going to say it again. There's two reasons why I want
Christ to have all the glory. Number one, because he deserves
it all. Number two, because if he doesn't get all the glory,
that means something's expected out of me. There's something
I need to do. And that's a burden I don't want to face in any way.
I love him getting all the glory because he deserves it all. And
that makes my salvation safe and secure. He did it all. Somebody is thinking, are there
not other commandments to keep? Are there not exhortations to
obedience? Did not the Lord say, he that
keepeth my commandments, the same as he that loveth me? Should we not try to keep the
Ten Commandments? I don't try to keep the Ten Commandments,
I've kept them. I've kept them perfectly. They look me over and say, there's
no fault in him. He's kept me perfectly. You know, there's something about
trying to keep the commandments. Something's wrong with that. Something's wrong with that picture.
If you try, you didn't do it. Well, I'm trying my best. Your
best ain't any good. But I've kept the 10 commandments
and I love them. And the scriptures are filled with exhortations
to obedience. I wouldn't deny that for a second.
I love this one. These things write unto you that
you sin not. When you do, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I love it when
the Lord says to John, love not the world. That's an exhortation
to obedience. Neither the things that are in
the world. If any man that loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. For all that's of the world, the lust of the
flesh, The lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the
Father, but of the world. It's an exhortation to obedience.
Love not the world. Love not the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Hate them in your heart.
Ask for deliverance from them. But what are the commandments
that you actually keep? Don't say any of the Ten Commandments
because you're deceived if you think you've kept one at one
time. All you demonstrate by that is you don't understand
the holy law of God, you don't understand God's holiness, nor
do you understand your own sinfulness. If you think you've kept one
commandment one time, you are blind to yourself and to the
holiness of God's law. Are you saying it's okay to break
it? We shouldn't, quit saying that. Quit saying that. I love
God's law. I delight in the law of God after
the inner man. And I'm not afraid of God's law.
I stand perfect before God's law. I've kept it in Christ. But I know in myself, I haven't
kept it one time. Not one commandment, not one
time. Well, what commandments do you keep? Turn to 1 John chapter
3. Verse 23, and this is his commandment,
that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another as he gave us commandment. Now, let me tell
you a commandment It's only by grace, but I do this. Right now,
I'm believing on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. He is
my salvation. I'm relying only on Him. I'm keeping that commandment.
Me, I'm doing it. I know it's only by the grace
of God, but I'm doing it. God the Holy Spirit isn't believing
for me. He's causing me to believe. And you know what? He says, love
one another. If somebody loves Jesus Christ,
I love that person. Don't you? Somebody that loves
Christ, that's the excellence of the earth. I love them. I do. And so does every other
believer. Now, this is the family trait,
doing the will of God. Now, let me make this statement
in conclusion. Doing the will of God and believing
on Christ are one and the same thing. This is the family trait. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that every single one of us might do the will of God for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen. Matt,
come lead us in closing hymn, please.